In this issue:  The Joy of Six | Jazz Improvisation: 15 Tips for Getting Started | 
Never Give Up Playing the Piano | Improvising Classical Music

Never Give Up Playing the Piano

by Gail Smith

Learning to play the piano for your own enjoyment is one of the greatest gifts. When children say they don't want to practice, often it is the music that they are playing they don't want to practice. They may just need a different style piece or one they recognize to rekindle their interest. A teacher should treat each student as an individual and find music that will inspire them to practice.

Pianists at any stage should be able to sit down at the piano and play something by memory, even if it is only something on the black notes or playing "Underwater music". To play "underwater music" you simply hold the pedal down and play middle C, D and E with the left hand; and the right hand plays the group of three black notes. Any assortment of those six notes, going up higher and descending, really sounds beautiful. Actually, there are 720 different combinations of those six notes you can play without repeating a single note. If someone has a lot of time on their hands, they could write all 720 patterns out. Here is just one whole tone example. . . C, D, E, - Bb, Ab, Gb. Okay, here's one more! C, E, D - Bb,Gb, Ab.

As a teacher, I don't feel that I have done my job teaching if a student can not play "Happy Birthday". Start on middle C and have them play it and use three chords in this order. (F – C – C – F ) (F – Bb – F C – F )

Happy, comes in by itself, first, then go along with the chords shown above, holding each one for three beats, except the next to last measure where the F chord is held for two beats followed by the C chord for one beat and then the last measure comes in with an F chord. After you can play the melody with the simple chord try breaking up the chord and octave lower in the bass clef and it sounds better. Then try a harder pattern from my book "The Complete Book of Improvisation, Chord Progressions and Fills".

With Summer vacation just around the corner, find songs that will interest and motivate each piano student. Perhaps a student is going to a foreign country, suggest they play some folk songs from that country or learn the national anthem of that country. With the Summer Olympics in China this summer, suggest the piece, "Chinese Bagatelle" by Tcherepnin, for an advanced student. Perhaps a student is going to a wedding of a relative, suggest they learn the Pachelbel Canon to play as a Prelude for their favorite Aunt's wedding. Maybe a boy is going on a camp out with a group, you might suggest he listen for bird calls and write them down.

Music should be a part of our lives whether we just listen to music or make music ourselves. All the time I hear, "I wish I had kept on taking piano lessons". Try to be the one that encourages everyone around you to keep playing the piano.

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